Measured and Quoted on Site
Not off a photo. We come out, look at the ground and the access, and price the actual job.
Polished Concrete
Polished Concrete Floors in Launceston
Polished concrete floors are an indoor finish, and in Launceston they turn up in extensions and shed conversions more than anywhere else. It is the slab your house already sits on, ground and sealed until it reflects the room, which is why it is the one finish that can cost you nothing in materials you have not already paid for.
How We Work
The Ground Gets Done Before the Concrete Does
Excavation, a compacted base and reinforcement to spec, the half that decides how long it lasts.
One Price, and We Take the Mess with Us
One written price for the whole job, not a rate per square metre, and the site is left clean.
The Decision That Sets Everything
How Much Stone Do You Want to See?
Everything else about a polished floor is detail. This is the choice, it is made before we start, and it cannot be undone afterwards, grinding deeper is possible, going back is not.
Cream Polish
Barely cut. The cement surface is polished with almost no stone showing, so the floor reads as a soft even tone. The calmest of the three.
Salt and Pepper
Ground just past the cement to reveal the sand and small chips. Evenly speckled, the most popular choice, and the most forgiving of an ordinary slab.
Full Stone Exposure
Cut deeper to reach the large aggregate, which reads like terrazzo. Spectacular, and it depends entirely on what stone is in your slab.
Which Is Why the Slab Matters
On a new pour we choose the stone. On an existing slab you get whatever the builder ordered, and we core a test patch before promising anything.
New Slab or Existing
You May Already Own the Floor
This is the argument for polished concrete floors that nobody makes properly. If your house sits on a slab, the floor is already there and already paid for. Everything else is a covering over the top of it.
An Existing House Slab
Lift the carpet or the tiles and there is a concrete floor under them. If it is sound and flat enough, it can be ground and sealed instead of recovered.
A New Build or an Extension
Best case. The mix, the stone and the flatness are all specified up front, and the slab is poured knowing it will be the finished floor.
What Can Go Wrong on an Old Slab
Tile glue, old adhesive, patches, plumbing trenches and previous repairs all show once you grind. We test before we quote, not after.
Flatness Decides the Exposure
A slab that dips cannot be ground evenly to full stone, the high spots cut deeper than the low ones. Sometimes salt and pepper is the honest answer.
And It Is Warm Underfoot with Hydronic
Concrete holds heat, so polished concrete floors over in-slab heating are among the most comfortable floors you can have in a Tasmanian winter.
Send us a photo of the slab you have and we will tell you whether it will polish, before anyone comes out.
How It Looks
Polished Floors Around a House
The same finish reads differently depending on the room, the light and how much stone you let through.
Kitchen and Dining
Where it earns its keep. Nothing to catch crumbs, nothing to lift at the edges, and a spill is a wipe rather than a problem.
Open-plan Living
One continuous surface with no thresholds, no joins and no change of material between spaces.
Salt and Pepper, Close Up
The most popular exposure. Fine chips evenly through a pale ground, and forgiving of a slab that was never meant to be seen.
Three Exposures Compared
Cream, salt and pepper, and full stone on one slab. Worth looking at before you decide, because the difference is larger than people expect.
The Junction Detail
Where the floor meets a wall. A shadow line rather than a skirting keeps the surface reading as one plane.
Mid-grind
What the process actually looks like. Dust-extracted, and done before the skirting and the kitchen go in.
Ask at the measure and we will show you the real thing before you choose, because a polished floor looks different under a room's own light.
The Confusion Worth Clearing Up
Polished, Honed or Grind and Seal
Three names, sold interchangeably, meaning three different amounts of work and three different prices. Read across.
How It Is Made
Ground, Densified, Polished, Sealed
It is a multi-day job with heavy machines and a lot of dust extraction, and it happens before the skirting, the kitchen and the paint.
01
Test and Assess the Slab
A small test patch tells us what stone is in there and how flat it is. On an existing slab this is the step that decides what we can honestly promise.
02
Grind and Expose
Coarse diamonds cut to the exposure you chose. This is the loud, dusty stage and it is where the floor is decided.
03
Fill and Densify
Pinholes and small imperfections filled, then a chemical densifier hardens the surface from within so it takes a polish and resists wear.
04
Polish Through the Grits
Progressively finer diamonds, pass after pass, until the sheen you asked for. More passes is more gloss and more cost.
05
Seal and Hand Over
A penetrating sealer rather than a coating, so nothing sits on top to scratch. Then it is protected while the rest of the build finishes.
Living With It
What It Is Actually Like Day to Day
Polished concrete is very low maintenance and it is not no maintenance. Here is the honest version before you commit the whole floor to it.
It Is Hard, and That Is the Trade
Dropped glass breaks. Standing at a bench for an hour is tiring in a way it is not on timber. Rugs where you stand still solve most of it.It Is Cold Without Heating
Concrete takes the room's temperature. In a Tasmanian winter that means cold underfoot unless there is in-slab heating, and superb if there is.Cleaning Is a Mop and Neutral Cleaner
No wax, no polish, no annual treatment. Nothing acidic, because acid etches the surface and no cleaner is worth that.It Will Show Its History
Concrete is a natural material with variation, patches and the odd mark. People who love these floors love that; people who want uniform should look at tiles.Sealer Refreshed Every Few Years
A penetrating sealer topped up occasionally in high-traffic areas. Far less than recoating a grind-and-seal floor.And It Can Be Reground
Ten years on, a tired floor is ground again and comes back new. No other floor finish in a house can say that.Ask at the measure and we will show you a finished floor and what it looks like after a few years.
What It Costs
Our Launceston Rates for Polished Concrete
Installed, per square metre. Grind and seal and a mechanically polished floor are different processes at different money.
Whole Jobs
What a Finished Job Comes To
Worked examples at real sizes, so you can see roughly where your job sits before you call. These are indicative ranges only. Final pricing depends on site conditions and finish requirements, which is what the free measure settles.
80m² Living Floor, Grind and Seal80m² at our polished: grind and seal rate$4,000 – $8,800
80m² Living Floor, Mechanically Polished80m² at our polished: mechanical rate$8,000 – $14,400
30m² Room, Mechanically Polished30m² at our polished: mechanical rate$3,000 – $5,400
$0$7k$15k
What It Depends On
What Changes the Price of a Polished Floor
The rates above are the starting point. Polished varies more than any other finish we do, because so much depends on a slab that is already there.
New Slab or Existing
A new pour specified for polishing is straightforward. An existing slab under tiles and glue is an unknown until we test it.
What Has to Come off First
Carpet is easy. Tile glue, vinyl adhesive and old levelling compound are slow, and removing them is often the biggest line on the quote.
How Much Stone You Want
Cream polish is fewer passes than full stone exposure. Every extra pass is machine time, and machine time is the cost.
How Much Gloss
The sheen level is decided by how far through the grits we go. A satin floor and a mirror floor are different numbers of passes.
Area, and How Open It Is
Machines are efficient in open rooms and slow in hallways, around islands and in anything they cannot turn in. Hand work at the edges is real time.
Repairs and Joints
Cracks, trenches and old patches have to be dealt with, and how visible they end up is a conversation we would rather have before than after.
The Next Step
Get a Price for a Polished Floor
Tell us the rough floor area and whether the slab is new, existing, or under something you want lifted. The measure and the written price are free.
What Happens After You Send It
- We come out and measure it, free, and look at the ground and the access.
- You get one written price for the whole job, not a rate per square metre.
- If you go ahead, you get a start date and the same crew from quote to pour.
Would rather talk it through? (03) 6724 3698, or send the details through the contact page.
Polished Floors Across Launceston
- Kings Meadows
- Newstead
- Norwood
- Prospect
- Riverside
- Trevallyn
- West Launceston
- East Launceston
- South Launceston
- Youngtown
- St Leonards
- Mowbray
Plus the wider Launceston area. See every suburb we cover.
Common Questions
Polished Concrete Questions We Get Asked in Launceston
Can you polish an existing concrete floor?
Usually yes, and it is one of the best reasons to consider it. If the slab is sound and flat enough to take a few millimetres off, it can be ground and sealed rather than covered. We grind a test patch first, because tile glue, old patches and plumbing trenches all show once you start and we would rather find them before you commit.
What is the difference between polished and honed concrete?
How far the grinding goes. Honed stops at a soft matte sheen and is the outdoor finish. Polished continues through finer and finer diamonds to a genuine mirror, and it belongs indoors. It is genuinely slippery outside when wet.
Is polished concrete cold?
It takes the temperature of the room, so in a Tasmanian winter it is cold underfoot unless there is heating in the slab. With hydronic or in-slab electric heating it is the opposite. Concrete holds heat well and it is one of the most comfortable floors you can have.
Is polished concrete slippery?
Indoors and dry, no more than polished timber or tile. Wet, yes, which is why it is an indoor floor and why we do not recommend it outside or in a wet area without a different finish.
What is grind and seal, and is it the same thing?
No. Grind and seal is concrete ground once or twice and then given a topical coating to make it shine. It is cheaper, it can scratch, and the coating eventually needs redoing. True polished concrete has nothing on top, the sheen is the stone itself. If one quote is far cheaper than the others, this is usually the difference.
Will my polished floor crack?
The slab moves like any other, so control joints and existing cracks are part of the conversation. Cracks can be filled and made a feature or made discreet, but they cannot be made invisible. Anyone promising a flawless floor over an old slab has not looked at it.
Free Measure, Fixed Price
Find Out What Your Job Costs
One call and we come out, measure the real thing and put a price in writing. It costs nothing and there is no salesman in it.
One call. We measure it and put a fixed price in writing. Costs nothing.
- We come and measure itOn site, tape out, so the price is for your job and not a guess off a photo.
- A fixed written priceOne number you can hold us to. Not a range, not a rate, not an estimate.
- The crew who quotes it pours itThe bloke standing in your driveway is the bloke who does the work. Who you are dealing with.
- Measured on site, not guessed
- Fixed written price, not a range
- The crew who quotes it pours it
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